AO (Ghana) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

For a Tier 1 post-study visa, an application must ordinarily be made after the relevant qualification has been awarded. Completion of the course and a statement that results will be confirmed or a certificate will be awarded do not satisfy that requirement where the qualification has not yet been awarded. The specific exceptions in the rules govern applications made before formal award. Applying [2015] EWCA Civ 2007 and [2013] EWCA Civ 755, the court held that an applicant who had completed the course but had not received the qualification when applying could not obtain the necessary points. The renewed application for permission to appeal was dismissed.

The applicant, a Ghanaian citizen with Tier 4 student leave, applied on 5 July 2012 for a Tier 1 post-study visa. He had completed his MBA course on 23 February 2012, but the qualification certificate was not awarded until 24 July 2012. A college letter stated that the results would be confirmed and that a certificate would be awarded. The Secretary of State refused the application because the certificate had not been furnished before the application. The First-tier Tribunal dismissed the appeal on 19 December 2012, and the Upper Tribunal dismissed it on 4 March 2014. The central issue was whether course completion and the college letter were sufficient despite the absence of a qualification at the date of application.

The renewed application for permission to appeal was dismissed. The applicant was not represented, and no adjournment or withdrawal had been sought.

1. The relevant requirement was ordinarily a post-award application. The rules contained specific exceptions, but none applied. Completion of the course did not itself establish that the applicant had received the qualification required for the award of points.

2. The college letter did not alter that conclusion. It stated that the results would be confirmed and that a certificate would be awarded, but it did not state that the qualification had already been awarded. The reasoning in [2015] EWCA Civ 2007, concerning a similar statement that a certificate would be issued shortly, showed that such evidence was insufficient, particularly where no date for the award was given.

3. The court applied the approach in [2013] EWCA Civ 755, under which an applicant who had completed the course but had not received the qualification by the date of application had not established entitlement to the necessary Tier 1 post-study visa points. The grounds were therefore unarguable, and permission to appeal was refused.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division) — renewed application for permission to appeal dismissed: [2015] EWCA Civ 661.
• Upper Tribunal — appeal dismissed on 4 March 2014 and permission to appeal refused.
• First-tier Tribunal — appeal dismissed on 19 December 2012.
• Secretary of State — Tier 1 post-study visa application refused on 21 September 2012.